Jon Stewart had a very funny segment on Sheldon Adelson and potential GOP presidential candidates. I particularly liked the end where Stewart did a piece on Taco Bell. See here to watch it.
Today the Supreme Court struck down campaign funding limits for individuals. A single person is still limited in the amount they can give an individual candidate but are no longer limited by how much they can spend during a campaign cycle.
This latest decision
knocks out one of the pillars supporting the first world of hard
money. It issues an open invitation to the wealthiest and most willing
donors to circumvent limits on contributions to candidates and political
committees. In his dissent, Justice Breyer kindly provides a detailed
map showing how politicians can persuade and accommodate generous donors
to increase their contributions to individual parties and candidates
from amounts denominated in thousands to millions. Justice Roberts
writes that such efforts to circumvent the limits are purely
hypothetical and remote. Political consultants and election law
specialists know better. Having just witnessed this past weekend the Sheldon Adelson Primary,
in which prospective Republican presidential candidates competed in Las
Vegas for the gambling mogul’s blessing and millions of dollars in
“independent” spending, it is easy to take this latest Court decision in
stride. Some scholars
welcome the opportunity for parties to garner the million dollar
contributions now going to Super Pacs and affiliated nonprofit
organizations.
From:
Why the McCutcheon Decision is Worse than it Looks | Brookings Institution
Plutocracy!
ReplyDelete